IPL 2024: “Since the World Cup is approaching, I want runs to continuously come from Rinku Singh’s bat” – Aakash Chopra

Former Indian Test opener Aakash Chopra wants Rinku Singh to face more balls against Punjab Kings at the Eden Gardens, Kolkata on Friday. Singh has been batting down the order for KKR and has faced a handful of balls in the ongoing Indian Premier League 2024.

The left-hander has scored 107 runs off 67 balls in six innings at an average of 26.75 and a blistering strike rate of 159.70 in this edition. KKR’s top-order has done the bulk of the scoring and thus Singh hasn’t got a chance to showcase his batting skills.

Meanwhile, Rinku Singh scored 474 runs in 14 matches of IPL 2023 at an average of 59.23 and a strike rate of 149.53. Singh has done a fine job for the Indian team as he has scored 356 runs in 11 T20I innings at an average of 89 and a strike rate of 176.24.

“Could this be Rinku’s match? Rinku’s fantastic avatar has not yet been seen because he isn’t getting that much batting. When he gets less batting, he gets stuck regarding how many deliveries he should play and how much he should hit. Since (Andre) Russell is playing well, no one is sending him up the order as well,” Aakash Chopra said on his YouTube Channel.

“He might get to bat less here as well. However, I am greedy that Rinku should get to bat and score runs. Since the World Cup is approaching, I want runs to continuously come from Rinku Singh’s bat. The number for which he will be fighting, Shivam Dube is already playing very well there. As much as I love Shivam Dube, I love Rinku Singh as much,” the former India opener added.

The renowned commentator picked in-form Sunil Narine as the other player to watch out for.

“I am going towards Sunil Narine because he will open once again. I feel a game plan has been made against him now. I am very interested to see whether the other teams also follow that. Bengaluru (RCB) did that well. They bowled absolutely full balls and eventually dismissed him, so whether Arshdeep Singh, Sam Curran and Kagiso Rabada will do the same thing?” he said

“I have great expectations from Sunil Narine the bowler because Sam Curran comes to open for PBKS since Shikhar isn’t there. Liam Livingstone comes in the middle and Rilee Rossouw plays. So his spin will work there. He picked up two wickets in the last match as well,” the former KKR player added.

The former KKR player picked Harshit Rana as the third player to watch out for on Friday.

“In bowling, I am once again thinking about Harshit Rana because I am liking him a lot. You can keep him as a slightly out-of-the-box name for the World Cup selection because when you are seeing who after (Jasprit) Bumrah) in the Indian T20 team, you are searching slightly,” he explained.